Bal Harbour

Architect Chad Oppenheim stands at the entrance of Villa Allegra. P O R T R A I T: CO U R T E S Y O F O P P E N H E I M A R C H I T E C T U R E BAL HARBOUR 195 HAD OPPENHEIM, FOUNDER OF OPPENHEIM Architecture and winner of the 2023 American Prize for Architecture, embraces a design ethos defined by what he calls "spirit of place." "It's about creating an environment to enjoy—to savor—all that a place has to o er," he says. Having founded his architectural firm in Miami in 1999, and then adding a second o„ce in Basel, Switzerland, in 2009, Oppenheim has taken on commercial and residential projects across five continents. "The work we do in Miami is di erent from the work we do in Switzerland," he explains. Yet from project to project, one throughline remains: "Ever y place informs us of what it wants to be." Villa Allegra, the architect's Sunset Island home of the last 20 years, embodies the essence of his site-specific approach, capturing the quintessential energy and sex appeal of a city he first saw watching Miami Vice. Growing up in New Jersey in the 1980s, Oppenheim fell in love with the hit show and the visions of Miami coming through his television screen. "The style, the architecture, the fashion, the cars," he recalls. "To a budding architect from suburban New Jersey, it was another world"— one he sought to capture in his own home. Tailored to Miami's lush climate, the six-bedroom, 9,000-square-foot house completed in 2002 embraces the minimalism and indoor-outdoor connections of tropical modernism. But as an early under taking, Villa Allegra also provided Oppenheim with a testing ground, "a laboratory to explore ideas," he says, one in which he could combine modernist principles with flourishes of Roman classicism. The enormous entryway features an impluvium—a feature of ancient Pompeiian villas in which a rectangular skylight mirrors the shape of a reflecting pool below. The facade is made of coral stone, in contrast to the enormous glass front doors. " We have a saying: form follows feeling," Oppenheim says, describing his emphasis on modernist principles of proportion, scale, and procession. The mini- mal interiors feature ceilings as high as 21 feet, with recently upgraded travertine finishes by Italian stone company Vaselli, and complemented by an eclectic array of vintage and contemporary pieces. The spare palette is white but the textures are rich, with plush mid-century classics like Pierre Paulin armchairs in the living room or Afra & Tobia Scarpa Soriana furniture in the master bedroom. The dining room features a large gypsum chandelier by Rogan Gregory over a custom table by Anna Karlin. Oppenheim personally collaborated with Karlin on the design—a complex piece of marquetry made of burled, bleached walnut. "It took six months to puzzle the pieces together in Italy," he says. Having recently put it on the market to focus on a new project, Oppenheim fondly recalls Villa Allegra "not as a house, but an experience" that produced many memories over the years, including high-profile events for the likes of Audi, Ferrari, and the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum, but the crowning achievement was when director Michael Mann asked if he could film a scene for his 2006 Miami Vice cinemat ic reboot t here. For a li felon g Miami Vice fa n, t he scene brou ght Oppenheim's original vision for his home full circle: "It was a dream come true."

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